Recipe of the month: Ragda Patties

Chaat includes a wide array of savoury snacks, typically served at roadside stalls or carts in India but have over the years (due to their growing popularity), started to appear on the menus of even the most sophisticated Indian restaurants. With its origins in east India, chaat has become immensely popular in the rest of India and even the rest of South Asia. 

Most of my family and friends are major chaat junkies. Though I am not really a hard-core fan, there are certain chaats that I am extremely fond of. One of them is Ragda Patties. The main components of this dish are a shallow-fried potato cutlets and a warm and spicy yellow peas gravy. The potato cutlets are smothered in the gravy, garnished with finely chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves and topped off with a spicy chutney and a sweet and sour date-tamarind chutney.

This dish actually serves as a complete meal and doesn’t take much time to prepare provided you have planned ahead and done the prep work.

Ragda Patties

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 min 

Recipe level: Intermediate

Serves:3-5
Recipe source: Adapted from Tarla Dalal's website

Ingredients: 

For the patties:
4 large potatoes, boiled
1 slice bread

2 tbsp rice flour

½ tsp red chilli powder

¼ tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste
oil for shallow frying

For the ragda:
1 cup white vatana (dried whole yellow peas)
1 finely chopped onion
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp jaggery
1 tbsp tamarind paste
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

For the garnish:
Tamarind and date chutney (I use the store bought variety)

Green chutney*
Finely chopped onion

Finely chopped tomato
Finely chopped coriander leaves
Sev
Papdi (optional)
Lime wedges

Note:

*For green chutney – grind together 1 large bunch coriander leaves, 3-4 green chillies, ½ tsp cumin seeds, ½ onion, few drops lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, salt to taste and 1 tbsp oil.

Method:

1. Soak the peas overnight and then cook them using a pressure cooker till done.
2. Heat oil and sauté the onion for a few minutes till translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute more. Add salt, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and sauté for a few seconds till spices are aromatic. Then add the cooked peas, 2 cups water, tamarind and jaggery. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Mash some of the peas to make the curry thicker if needed. Taste the curry and adjust the balance of sweet/sour/salty. Set ragda aside.
3. To make patties, dip the bread slice in warm water, then squeeze out excess water and place in a bowl. Add boiled potatoes, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder and knead everything together to mix well. Form patties with the potato mixture. Shallow fry the patties until they turn a deep brown in a small amount of oil and drain on paper towels. 
4. Place 2 patties on a plate. Sprinkle with some crushed papdi. Top with a ladleful of peas curry. Then garnish with tamarind and date chutney, green chutney, minced onion, minced tomatoes, coriander and sev. 

Notes:

• When shallow frying the patties, make sure they turn a nice deep brown. When you do this, the patties develop a nice fried skin which is divine when you bite into
• Vary the amount of green chutney and date-tamarind chutney based on how spicy or sweet a person likes their chaat
• This dish fills you up so if you plan this for a starter, I would recommend just having 1 small patty per person
• I have found that making the ragda the previous day intensifies its flavor and improves its consistency (after it has sat in the fridge overnight) so this is a great dish to prep ahead.

Cheers,
Megha